Heating furnace



Aug. 7, 1945.

J. CAFAGNO HEYATINGFURNACE Fiied Dec. 27, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l Inventor JOE cAFAG/vo Aug. 7, 1945. y J. CAFAGNO 2,381,16`-

l i HEATI I I v Filed Dec. 27, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Mi/W Patented Aug. ,7, 1945 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFicE HEATING FURNACE Joe Cafagno, Marion, Ohio Application December 27, 1044, Serial No. 570,037

Claims.

My invention relates to heating furnaces, and more particularly to a device for insuring an uninterrupted ow of material through furnaces used for heating steel rails, billets and similar materials preparatory to processing them in shears, rolls or other forming devices.

Furnaces of the above type have skids or rails extending for their full length along or near the f floor of the heating chamber on which the rails or billets travel as they are introduced at the receiving end and caused to/pass successively through the heating chamber to the discharge end. These rails or billets are often used and worn railroad rails which have been cut to length in relation to the width of the furnace available for the heating operation.

The rails or billets are placed on the skids at the receiving or charge end of the furnace and are introduced into the heating chamber by some device not directly'in connection Awith the furnace, such as a hydraulic or pneumatic ram. The

force is applied to each rail or group of rails placed on the skids at the charge end of the furnace, and such force is transmitted through the touching rails until a sufficient number have been introduced to force the first rail along the skids, through the heating chamber, to the discharge end of the furnace. The combined weight of the rails or billets under treatment, plus the retarding action of friction between the rails or billets and the furnace skids, requires a pressure of considerable force, generally of several thousand pounds, to deliver heated rails at the discharge end.

As the rails or `billets used are, for the most part, worn railroad rails, and as the greatest amount of Wear has produced a rounded corner on one or both top edges of the heads of the rails, a, problem of maintaining proper relation of the 'rails in the furnace is created as follows:

(a) The general method of placing the rails on the skids is that they rest on one edge of the ange and one edge ofthe head with the head of one rail butting directly against the flange of the adiapent preceding rail.

(b). As pressure is applied at the charge end of the furnace and is transmitted through the touching rails,v the h'ead of each rail has a tendency to slide up on the bottom of the flange of the next adjacent preceding rail, thus producing a piling action.

(c) This piling action, if not prevented, results in a stoppage of furnace operation while the rails are restored to their proper positions for being forced through the furnace in an orderly manner.

oz) In addition to the piling action .above described, there is a tendency of the rails, due to l -thereby causing an action similar to that described in paragraph (c) above and with the same results.

It is the purposegof this invention, therefore, to provide a device whereby the disadvantages mentioned in the above paragraphs are eliminated, so that the heating process will not be interrupted and will require a minimum of time and labor.

More specific objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the drawings and claimed.-

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a rail hold-down device constructed in accordance with the present invention and installed within a heating furnace, the furnace being illustrated dagrammatically and in longitudinal section.

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on line 2-2 .of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on line l Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View of a portion of the construction shown in Figure 1, to more clearly reveal details.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the present device includes a frame embodying a plurality of hold-down rails I0, preferably made from suitable lengths of standard railroad rail, and fastened to each other in the same horizontal plane and in spaced parallel relation by suitable cross bars II that are also preferably in the form of lengths of railroad rail. The hold-down rails I0 have their heads uppermost, while the cross bar rails I I are`inverted and butt-Welded to the sides of rails I0 after having been cut as required for a snug fit.

Supportingrods I2 are welded at their lower ends to the heads of the hold-down rails I 0 at or near their junctions with the cross bar rails I I, ,and they are of suficient length to protrude through the'top of the furnace F and to engage the spring assemblies A to be presently described. Each spring assembly consists of a bottom bearing plate support I3, which can be I-beams as shown, or varied to suit the installation, and a bottom bearing plate I4 which rests on support I3 and in turn supports a compression' spring I5 which is of suflcient strength to adequately support its portion of the weight of the entire assembly. The spring I5 surrounds the adjacent supporting rod I2, and the latter extends upwardly through the plate I4. Tension spring I5 is held in place by a top bearing plate I6 which is slidable on the supporting rod I2 and is, in turn,

of sections of steel pipe, are xed to each rail III, one end of each cable support resting on the flange of the associated hold-down rail I and securely welded in the position shown to the flange and head of this rail. 'I'he other end of the pipe section of each cable support I8 is closed by Welding a'. circular plate I8aof a diameter slightlyV greater than that of the pipe, over'said other end as shown.-

A cable guard bar I9, made from the ange of a standard railroad rail with la half-circular groove I'Sa milled along the top center to provide a runway or guide for a spacer block cable 20, is associated with each rail I0.' The cable' guide bars I 9 are inverted and Welded t9 the flages of the hold-down rails I 0 as shown.

' A spacer block cable 20 is placed over the cable supports I8 of each rail I0 and in the groove of the associated cable guide bar I9 so as to form an endless loop from the front to the rear of the entire assembly. as shown. To each cable are fastened spacer blocks 2|, with a spacing of suitable clearance between them. The cables 20 are tensioned so that they move freely over the cable supports I8 and along the cable guide bars I9, there being no motive power transmittedv to the cables other than by the lmovement of rails through the furnace. The flexibility of the cables between spacer blocks 2| permits a change in the angular relation of the blocks. l

'I'he entire assembly supported by theA rods I2 through the spring assemblies is suspended from the roof of the furnace at a height above the rail skids of the latter to permit the flanges of the hold-down rails I 0 to touch the flanges of the rails being heated, as shown.

As rail sections are introduced into the furnace for treating, the top portions of their flanges will engage the spacer blocks 2|, as shown, and move the spacer bar lcables 20 in a direction toward the rear of the furnace, thus presenting additional spacer blocks 2| for the engagement of succeeding rail sections. As this movement continues, holddown rails III restrict any vertical movement of the rails under treatment, while the spacer blocks 2l prohibit any tendency that the heads of therails may have to slide up on the flanges of the preceding adjacent rails, as noted above.

It will be noted that the length of the holddown railsis not defined, becauseat lone point in cable supports mounted upon corresponding sides of said hold-down rails, a cable passing around the cable supports of each hold-down rail, a plurality of equally spaced spacer blocks carried by and projecting vertically from each cable, and means for suspending ,said frame from th'e roof of the furnace so as to locate the hold-down rails at 9, predetermined distance above the bottom sur" face of the furnace along which the articles to be treated are moved. v

2. In combination with a heating furnace, a hold-down device comprising an elongated rigid frame embodying a plurality of spaced longitudi- Anal hold-down rails, a longitudinal series of spaced cable supports mounted upon corresponding sides of said hold-down rails, a cable passing around the cable supports of each hold-down rail, a plurality of equally spaced spacer blocks carried by and projecting vertically from each cable, and means for suspending said frame from the roof of the furnace so as to locate the hold-down rails at a predetermined distance above the bottom surface of the furnace along which the articles to be treated are moved, said cable supports compristhe heating process a grammar scale is produced.

on the rails under treatment, which prevents the objectionable sliding and stacking. The holdldown rails need not,'therefore, be extended beyond this point, which ca'n be determined by an inspection of the specific furnace in which the installation is to be made.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that the construction and operation, as Well as the advantages of the present invention, will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art. It will be apparent that I have provided a simple and efficient device which will eliminate the objections noted above. Minor changes may be made in details of construction-v illustrated and described, such as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

1. In combination with a heating furnace, a hold-down device comprising an elongated rigid frame embodying a plurality of spaced longitudinal hold-down rails, a longitudinal Vseries of spaced ing flanged cylindrical members having their unfianged ends resting on the flanges of the h'olddown rails and secured thereto and to the heads of said hold-down rails.

3. In vcombination with a heating furnace, a hold-down device comprising an elongated rigid frame embodying a plurality of spaced longitudinal hold-down rails, a longitudinal series of spaced cable supports mounted upon corresponding sides of said hold-down rails, a cable passing around the cable supports of each hold-down rail, a plurality of equally spaced spacer blocks carried by and projecting vertically from each cable, and means for suspending said frame from the roof of the furnace so as to locate the hold-down rails at a predetermined distance above the bottom surface of the furnace along which the articles to be treated are moved, and cable guide bars 'secured to the flanges of the hold-down rails and to the under sides of said cable supports, said cable guide bars having grooves to accommodate the cables.

4. In combination with av heating furnace, a hold-down device comprising an elongated rigid frame embodying a plurality of spaced longitudinal hold-down rails, a longitudinal series of spaced cable supports mounted upon corresponding Sides of said hold-down rails, a cable passing around th'e cable supports of each hold-down rail, a plurality of equally spaced spacer blocks carried by and projecting vertically from each cable, and means for suspending said frame from the roof of the furnace so as to locate the hold-down rails at a predetermined distance above the bottom surface of the furnace along which the articles to be treated aremoved, the means for suspending'the frame including vertical supporting rods ilxed to and rising from the frame and slidably projecting through the'A roof of the furnace, and yieldable means associatedl with said supporting rods and urging the latter upwardly to yieldingly support the frame.

5. As a means for preventing piling of rails while the latter are moved through a heating fur- -nace, an elongated frame having longitudinal within the furnace. 'z5

vJon CAFAGNO. 

